So, as gamesbids.com reported, a group from Vegas figured it would end run the USOC and send an application directly to IOC President Jacques Rogge.

They figured such a letter might mean all bets are off regarding the USOC's decision not to bid.

No one in the Vegas Olympic wannabes, led by a Texas developer named Chris Milam, bothered to read the rules for bids, as the IOC reminded them in a letter I learned about this afternoon.

The brief and polite IOC letter simply referred to Rule 33 of the Olympic Charter. Bye-law 1 to that rule reads, "In order to be admissable, any application by any city to host Olympic Games must be approved by the NOC (national Olympic committee) of its country. . ."

USOC officials, who are not approving any 2020 bids, had been in contact with the IOC as soon as they learned what Las Vegas was doing, so there would be no risk of damage to the vastly improved relations between the IOC and USOC.